According to China’s official media, the focus of the meeting was economic development. The meetings between Mr. Kim’s uncle, Jang Song-taek, and the top Chinese leaders came toward the end of his six-day trip to China.
Mr. Jang was visiting China as the chief of the central administrative department of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Agreements with China have been signed for the development of special economic zones in Rason, on North Korea’s northern tip, and in Hwanggumpyong, a North Korean island in the Yalu River that marks the southwestern border with China.
During that time, the government in Beijing promised to help North Korea develop two special trade zones near the Chinese border. Mr. Jang is the most powerful North Korean official to visit China since Mr. Kim’s father and the North’s former leader, Kim Jong-il, went there in August 2011.
The brother in law of Mr. Kim’s father, who died in December, Mr. Jang often preferred to stand in the background while party secretaries and military leaders stood closer to the elder Mr. Kim during official functions. But his prominence has risen after the ascension of Kim Jong-un. Him and his wife have climbed the party hierarchy as they worked to ensure a smooth transition of power in the Kim dynasty.
